This blog is to critically introduce, and contextualise, new research findings from developmental research, neuroscience, attachment theory and other areas of psychology that are topical or are likely to whet the appetite of anyone interested. The aim is to discuss research which will feel relevant and which might even, if lucky, make a differenc...e to how we approach our work or other areas of our lives.More

How worried should we be about internet pornography use? There is no question of its prevalence. Over 66% of American men report using it at least monthly, and 40% of women [1] and reportedly about 50% of internet traffic is porn use [2]. For many adolescents pornography is how you learn about sex, what to do, what to expect, how to be with the opposite sex.

Recently there has been a scurry of worrying statistics about a diabetes epidemic. Headlines suggest that diabetes is threatening to bankrupt the NHS, that there has been a 60% rise in cases in the past 10 years. Amazingly 3.3 million apparently are diagnosed with the disease, up 1.2 million in the last 10 years. Some predict further huge increases in the coming decades.

Huge cuts to benefits and services are about to hit millions of Britons which will exacerbate the troubled and troubling times we are living in. In the UK in the last 35 years the social fabric has dramatically changed, the Bevanite settlement and welfare state has been profoundly (possibly irreversibly) pulled apart. Since the end of the cold war we have seen the seemingly relentless march of neoliberalism and untamed capitalism, the spread of globalisation, and of rising inequality. The world many grew up in and expected to continue is on the retreat and many in the helping professions such as psychotherapists feel the need to find a response which articulates our core beliefs and hopes. This is maybe all the more urgent as attempts are made to co-opt psychotherapy into neoliberal agendas with worrying implications. We have seen a spate of protests about the ways in which the government treats those who need to claim what we used to call social security and is now derisorily called ‘welfare’ Mental health workers have staged protests against attempts to integrate mental health clinics with jobcentres, and groups such as the alliance for psychotherapy and counselling are increasingly making their opposition heard.

An important letter and accompanying report was published in the national press this week abhorring the effects of austerity and neoliberal politics on mental health services and on mental health generally . This is timely, not just because of the election, but because of the spiraling risks for now and for the future. Anyone working in services knows how they are being severely cut, making it harder and harder to access the kind of help that is needed. Only short-term ‘revolving door’ services are available to people in very serious need. Children’s mental health services are the most poorly funded, much less than adult mental health services which in turn have a fraction of health budgets. As an investigation by the charity Young Mindsrecently showed, children’s mental health services are in crisis.

An important new guideline was released this week by NICE, the National Institute for Clinical Evidence, which suggested that pregnant women in maternity care should have continuous one-to-one care. This is an important recommendation and has been widely backed by health officials across the country.

In the face of an encroaching obesity epidemic pundits constantly resort to simplistic and judgmental solutions, many of which blame sufferers, and worse, prescribe treatments and solutions that don’t work and don’t tackle the roots of the problem. Indeed our culture is rife with judgemental attitudes about weight and shape. Few of us are immune to preoccupations with our bodies, our kilo count, fat rolls, thigh sizes or belly width. Diet and food books consistently make the top 10 bestseller lists in the UK while rising obesity levels are seen as a huge threat to the NHS budget. While pubs serve ‘heart attack’ 2000 calorie burgers, rising numbers of ‘super-obese’ young people are being prescribed surgery. With all the angst, guilt and powerful opinionating we are too often left with a plethora of one-dimensional solutions and strident ideas, yet with too little understanding of what might lead to ‘issues’ of weight.